Method and apparatus for encoding and using network resource locators

ABSTRACT

Access to data resources on data communications networks is simplified by encoding data resource specifiers into a compressed form which can be stored in a service providers telephone equipment and transmitted to a user. The service provider stores information objects (e.g., hypertext pages) on one or more host computers at a node of a computer network, and develops compressed, compact resource specifiers for the information objects. A translation of the compressed resource specifier is provided in the user&#39;s telephone/terminal device and/or the host computer for translating the compressed resource specifiers back into their uncompressed form. The service provider stores the compressed resource specifiers in his telephone equipment and transmits them to users in response to user requests, such as in DTMF format. A compatible telephone/terminal device at the user&#39;s site (e.g., a computer or smartphone) receives and stores the compressed resource specifiers. Subsequently, during a data communication session with the host computer the user can request the specified information objects by transmitting the resource specifier it received from the service provider. The host computer uses the resource specifier it receives from the user to retrieve the requested information and transmit it to the user. This technique eliminates problems associated with memorization, incorrect copying, and/or re-keying of full network resource specifiers.

This is a continuation of application Ser. No. 08/626,601, filed Apr. 2,1996 now U.S. Pat. No. 5,764,910.

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The invention relates to computer networks and, more particularly, totechniques for facilitating the use of network resource locators such asInternet URL's (Universal Resource Locators).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

Computer networks have long been used by government organizations,educational institutions and corporations for storing, accessing, andexchanging information between computers interconnected by the networks.Originally, the computers interconnected by such networks tended to belarge mainframe-type computers. In recent years, however, the fallingcost of computers (especially personal computers (PC's)) has putsignificant computing power and storage into the hands of smallbusinesses and individuals. In fact, some estimates suggest thatapproximately 30% of homes in the United States now have a personalcomputer.

The explosive expansion of personal computer usage in private homes hascreated a need for more extensive computer networks to permit theinterconnection and exchange of information between ever growing numbersof computers. An even more significant outgrowth of this expansion isthe diversification of the type of information exchanged betweencomputer. Once limited primarily to research information and corporatedata, commercial computer networks now carry information related to awide variety of personal and professional interests. As computer networkusage grows, many businesses are recognizing their potential as acommunication and advertising medium and are using these computernetworks as a medium to reach and communicate with prospectivecustomers.

This growth in the use of computer networks has far exceeded thepredictions of most computer industry analysts. One of the largest andfastest growing computer networks is commonly known as the "Internet", aworld-wide "network of networks" made up of many thousands ofinterconnected computers and computer networks. (The name Internetderives from the shortening of "inter-network").

The term "internet" actually has two usages. Without capitalization, itgenerally refers to any interconnected set of networks (e.g., local areanetworks (LANs), wide area networks (WANs), etc.). When capitalized,however, (i.e., "Internet") it generally refers to "the" Internetdescribed above.

Internet began as an experiment over 20 years ago by the U.S. Departmentof Defense, but it has developed into what today is a global resourceconnecting millions of users. Although the networks that make up theInternet are based on a standard set of protocols (a mutually agreedupon method of communication between parties), the Internet also hasgateways to networks and services that are based on other, non-standardprotocols.

One of the most common features of the Internet is the exchange ofelectronic mail (E-mail). Many Internet users print E-mail addresses ontheir business cards along with their telephone and fax numbers. AnyInternet user or any subscriber to most major online networks (e.g.,Compuserve (tm), America Online (tm), etc.) can exchange E-mail with anyother connected user as long as the one user knows the other user'sInternet E-mail address. E-mail messages, however, are limited totextual data only, and may be subject to size restrictions.

Another major feature of the Internet involves a data exchange facilitycommonly referred to as "FTP" (for "File Transfer Protocol"), thetransfer protocol which governs data exchange by which users canexchange binary data with any Internet site that supports FTP. FTP userscan download or upload binary files of any size over the Internet, andcan browse through file directories on remote FTP sites. Other InternetFTP-related facilities provide the ability to search for information bycontent, title, topic, etc. FTP sites and files are identifiable by aspecial Internet address-specifier which identifies the FTP protocol,Internet site and/or file name and location.

In the past few years, an Internet hypertext facility commonly known asthe "World Wide Web" (WWW) has become increasingly popular. The WWWfacility consists of interlinked hypertext documents, known as "webpages". These documents adhere to a hypertext language called "HTML"(Hyper Text Meta (or Markup) Language) and are processed on the Internetaccording to a Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Any web page can link(i.e, reference or "point to") any other web page anywhere on theInternet. As a result, web pages are spread out all over the Internet.Web pages generally provide a "point and click" style of user interfacewhich requires very little user training. As with FTP data resources(files), web pages are identifiable by a special Internet address (knownas a Universal Resource Locator, or URL) which identifies the hypertextprotocol (e.g., HTTP) for web pages and the Internet site on which theweb page is located. Many WWW sites have a default "home page" or webpage which is automatically accessed whenever the site is referenced.

Addresses of resources on the Internet are specified by the URLs whichare long character strings composed of a protocol name and an address(or URN--Universal Resource Name), which identifies the host computer inwhich the resource is stored, and includes the path in the host computerto the requested resource. The accepted format is a string of the form"protocol-name://hostname/path". Occasionally, the protocol may beinferred from operations already being performed. For example, if one isbrowsing directories on an Internet site for the purpose of downloading,the "ftp://" file transfer protocol is generally assumed. In such cases,many browser programs permit the specification of a resource (e.g.,file) by the URN only. Similarly, if one is browsing WWW pages, it mayreasonably be assumed that the "http://" hypertext transfer protocol isin use and should be the default protocol unless otherwise specified.Internet E-mail addresses are "strings" having the general format:"username@hostname".

Given the electronic nature of the Internet, these character strings(URLs) are usually referenced in electronic documents or in printedmatter, by reproducing the entire string. To access a resource, a userwill either copy its associated character string (if the URL string isavailable electronically) to an application (e.g., a software program)capable of manipulating (using) it, or will manually type it into suchan application (if the URL string is printed in a hard copy document).

Evidently, the minimum knowledge necessary to contact another party viaE-mail or to send or receive information via the Internet is an Internetaddress; either an E-mail address or a URL/URN specifying an FTP or WWWresource. Unfortunately, these addresses can be very long and difficultto remember.

By way of example, a particular web page might be specified by a fullInternet URL having complete protocol and network location informationsuch as: "http://www.hostcomp.com/pub/indexes/userinfo/ homepage.html".

In this example, "http://" identifies the hypertext protocol (the twoforward slashes `//` are a special delimiter used to separate theprotocol name from the rest of the URL), "www" refers to the "world wideweb", "hostcomp.com" refers to a host computer at a commercial site,"/pub/indexes/userinfo/" identifies a specific directory on the hostcomputer's storage database, and "homepage.html" is a file specifier fora hypertext web page written in HTML. When this URL is given to WWWprocessing software (i.e., a "Web Browser"), the hypertext web page isretrieved (over the Internet) and executed (displayed to the user). Itis beyond the scope of this specification to go into the details ofInternet WWW and FTP protocols and information transfer mechanisms.However, those of ordinary skill in the art already understand andappreciate the underlying principles and mechanisms.

Many Internet sites provide services and information to Internet usersvia WWW, FTP, E-mail, and other mechanisms. Many television and radionews departments, movie studios, research laboratories, universities,manufacturers, vendors and a variety of others have publicly-accessibleWWW or FTP sites. It is not uncommon to see or hear a news broadcastrefer to an Internet URL by which more information on a story can beobtained. Numerous manufacturers provide technical support anddocumentation via the Internet, and print their WWW or FTP addresses intheir advertisements and literature.

The following terms are used in the description that follows:

End user (or user)--one who is interested in obtaining goods/services,such as by purchase.

Service provider--a provider, such as a vendor, of goods/services.

For the end user, the explosion of Internet URLs and E-mail addressescan be somewhat overwhelming. These addresses must be remembered orwritten down on a piece of paper, then manually typed into a computer(or other Internet access terminal such as an Internet-capable"smartphone"). This process is cumbersome, error-prone, and can befrustrating for the user. (Generally, a "smartphone" is an enhancedtelephone device that possesses some capabilities customarily associatedwith personal computers, such as a modem to permit data communicationsto occur over a telephone line, optionally an enhanced (greater thantwelve keys) keypad, a display device (such as a liquid crystal displayscreen) for presenting the user with graphics and text, and the like.)

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Although the foregoing discussion has been directed almost exclusivelyto accessing and exchanging information via "the" Internet, those ofordinary skill in the art will immediately understand that it appliesequally well to other internets (non-capitalized), and that the ensuingdescription of the invention should be considered as being applicable tothe most general set of applications.

It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide atechnique for accessing inter-network (internet) resources which doesnot require memorization of long Internet resource specifiers (URLs).

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a techniquefor accessing inter-network resources without manual entry of a longresource specifier.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a techniquefor encoding inter-network resource specifiers into a more compact,compressed form.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a techniqueby which a URL can be automatically transmitted by a service provider toan end user so that the end user can access information referred to bythe URL without memorization or manual entry of the URL.

According to the invention, a technique is provided by which a "serviceprovider" can facilitate user access to information resources on acomputer network. The technique includes creating an encoded networkresource locator, storing the locator within the service provider'stelephone equipment (e.g., an auto-dial facility of a telephone, or of acomputer acting as a telephone) and transmitting the encoded networkresource locator (representing data and/or information resources)located on an internet, e.g., the Internet), to a user'stelephone/terminal device at a user site during a telephone conversationwith the user. The telephone/terminal device at the user site receivesand stores the encoded (compacted) resource locator. The encoded networkresource locator can then be used by the user to automatically accessthe data and/or information resources) indicated by the encoded networkresource locator.

A system for accomplishing the above includes the aforementionedtelephone equipment at the service provider site and thetelephone/terminal device at the user site, both having storageassociated therewith, a host computer at a network server site andstorage associated therewith, and a communications medium (such as atelephone line) for communicating between the telephone equipment andthe telephone/terminal device, and between the telephone/terminal deviceand the host computer.

In preparation for communication with users, the service provider storesinformation resources (e.g., hypertext pages) on a host computer at anode of a computer network. A network resource locator is compressedinto a compact form and the service provider then stores the compressedresource locator into storage associated with his telephone equipment(e.g., in a dialing memory).

During a subsequent telephone conversation with a user, the serviceprovider can transmit the compressed resource locator (e.g., using DTMFtones via an auto-dialer) to the user's telephone/terminal device, whichreceives and stores the compressed resource locator. The user then hasthe capability of establishing a data communications session with thehost computer on which the desired information is stored, using thecompressed resource locator to access it. When such a data communicationsession is initiated, the user's telephone/terminal device translatesthe compressed resource locator at least partially back into itsunencoded form (e.g, an Internet URL) which is sent to the hostcomputer. The host computer translates any remaining portion of thecompressed resource locator which was not unravelled by the user'stelephone/terminal device, retrieves the information resource, andtransmits it to the user.

According to a feature of the invention, the network resource locatorcan be compressed by partial tokenization, full tokenization, datacompression or other suitable technique. These techniques are describedin greater detail hereinbelow.

By providing electronic transmission of the compressed resource locatorto the user's telephone/terminal device, the service provider saves theuser from having to memorize or manually key in a resource specifier,eliminating considerable potential for error in the process. Generally,this circumvents any need for the user to be aware of the "details" ofthe resource specifier.

One significant advantage of this technique is that, in its simplestform, no special equipment is required by the service provider. Aconventional telephone with dialing memory can be used to store one ormore compressed resource locators for transmission to users duringtelephone conversations.

Other objects, features and advantages of the invention will becomeapparent in light of the following description thereof.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Reference will be made to referred embodiments of the invention,examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Althoughthe invention will be described in the context of these preferredembodiments, it should be understood that such description is notintended to limit the spirit and scope of the invention to theseparticular embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system for encoding and using networkresource locators, according to the invention.

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram showing steps to be performed at a serviceprovider site in encoding and using network resource locators, accordingto the invention.

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram showing steps to be performed at a user site inencoding and using network resource locators, according to theinvention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram showing steps to be performed at a networkserver site in encoding and using network resource locators, accordingto the invention.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram showing the order of actions to be performed ata service provider site, user site, and network server site in encodingand using network resource locators, according to the invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

The present invention provides a technique by which a service providercan automatically transmit an encoded network resource locatorrepresenting data and/or information resources) located on an internet,e.g., the Internet, to a user. The encoded network resource locator canthen be used by the user to automatically access the data and/orinformation resources) indicated by the encoded network resourcelocator.

In order to enhance its accessibility to prospective customers, aservice provider (such as a store) may wish to place its hypertextdocuments(), or object(s), and/or other information object(s) on acomputer network such as the Internet. In order to accomplish this usingconventional mechanisms' the service provider must store the informationobject(s) on a host computer (also occasionally referred to as a"network server" or just "server") capable of accepting and serving userrequests (using designated protocols such as HTTP) for uploading suchinformation objects. Once the information object(s) is(are) placed inthe host computer's storage, a resource locator (e.g., URL) can begenerated (based on the host name, the path to the object, etc.) whichidentifies the network location of the object. This resource locator,can be passed on by the service provider to those users having aninterest in accessing the object(s). However, the resource locator maybe long, cryptic and, therefore, easily forgotten, confused, or mistypedby the user.

The present invention overcomes this problem by electronicallytransmitting the resource locator from the service provider to the user.Accordingly, the user need not memorize, type or take any action tostore the resource locator into his telephone/terminal device for use inaccessing the object(s), except as explained below. Thus, a key featureof the invention is the manner with which the resource locator is madeavailable to the user with minimal, if any, action on his part beingrequired.

Furthermore, in order to simplify the service provider's task, it isadvantageous to make it possible for the resource locator to be storedand transmitted by nothing more than the keypad of a touch-tone*telephone. This, in turn, requires modifying the resource locator sothat the standard keypad can generate all of the symbols and charactersof which it is constituted. Moreover, compressing the resource locatoris also beneficial. A technique is utilized, as explained below, forcompressing the resource locator into a compact form which iselectronically and automatically transmitted to a user'stelephone/terminal device. The user's telephone/terminal device receivesand stores the compressed resource locator for subsequent use inaccessing the information object(s).

Using the inventive technique, the service provider stores theinformation objects on a host computer in the conventional fashion.Unlike prior-art techniques, however, the service provider also storesthe compact form of the resource locator for transmission to users. Thiscan be as simple as storing the compressed resource locator as anauto-dial sequence in a conventional telephone with quick-dialcapability. The service provider needs only to press an auto-dial button(or button sequence) to transmit the compacted resource locator to auser. Various other schemes can also be used to transmit the resourcelocator from the service provider's telephone equipment to the user'stelephone/terminal device. For example, the compression of the resourcelocator is not essential, although its use is clearly advantageous.Also, rather than using the DTMF tones of the service provider'stelephone equipment, the service provider's site can be equipped with amodem as part of a PC, for example, to store and transmit the resourcelocator. No details are deemed necessary since the specifics are readilyapparent to anyone with ordinary skill in the art.

Switching of the user's telephone/terminal device from a telephoneconversation with the service provider to a data session wherein theinformation object is retrieved may take place immediately, or at alater time--either upon termination of the call (i.e., when the call isdisconnected), or at a later time selected by the user (i.e., by addingthe received URL to the user's local directory/storage). It is alsopossible for the user, given the appropriate communication line (e.g.,ISDN) and/or communication technique (e.g., multiplexing), to continuethe telephone session while simultaneously proceeding with the datasession, both to obtain the resource locator from the service providerand then to retrieve and display the information object.

As is well known to those of ordinary skill in the art, internet siteswith servers compose the underlying structure of the World Wide Web onthe Internet today. This structure requires no changes for the purposesof the present invention. However, in order to use a shorter, compressednotation for URL's, it may be required that translation of thecompressed notation be supported by the host computer. An alternative isto provide for such translation by the user's telephone/terminal devicewhich then sends a normal URL to the host computer.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a system 100 for encoding and using networkresource locators in the manner described above. At a user site, a userhas a telephone/terminal device 110 with capabilities for conductingdata and voice communications. This telephone/terminal device 110 can bean integrated device, such as a "smartphone" or a suitably equippedpersonal computer, or it can be a pair of suitably interconnectedseparate devices (e.g., separate telephone and data device sharing atelephone line, where the data device is capable of monitoring thetelephone line for data signals during a telephone conversation.). Thetelephone/terminal device 110 has the capability of receiving an encodednetwork resource locator (e.g., compressed URL). A storage medium 120(e.g., disk drive or other storage medium) is connected to (orintegrated within) the telephone/terminal 110. Received network resourcelocators, such as Internet URL's can be stored and accessed by thetelephone/terminal device 110 from the storage medium 120.

The telephone/terminal device 110 establishes voice and/or dataconnections via a communications medium 130, such as the public switchedtelephone network (PSTN) or another suitable communications medium. At aservice provider site, a service provider has a telephone 140 forcommunicating with users via the communications medium 130 (e.g., PSTN).Attached to (or integrated within) the service provider telephone 140 isa storage medium 150, for storing one or more network resource locatorsfor transmission to a user telephone/terminal (e.g., 110).

The network resource locators are stored in the storage medium 150 atthe service provider site in a compressed form, (e.g., a numericalform). The service provider telephone 140 has means, (e.g., quick-dialcapability or other similar capability) for storing and transmitting asignal representing the encoded network resource locator. In the case ofa quick-dial telephone feature, the network resource locator would beencoded into a numeric-only form and stored in the service providerstelephone in the same manner as a telephone number.

At a network server site, a network node computer 160 is connected tothe communications medium 130 for communicating with users. The networknode computer 160 is further connected to a computer network 180 (e.g.,"Internet"), and is used in a conventional, well known fashion to "geton" the network.

In preparation for subsequent communication with users, the serviceprovider stores information (e.g., hypertext pages) on host computer 170with a storage medium 175 at a (e.g., his subscribed-to) network serversite. The stored information has a network resource locator (e.g., URL).The service provider derives an encoded version of the URL (in a mannerdescribed below), and then programs his service provider telephone withthe encoded network resource locator.

In order to explain the encoding, the following URL is presented as anexample:

    ______________________________________                                        http: //www.nsc.com/patents/index.html                                        This URL can be encoded as follows:                                           http → 04 (other access methods, or                                            protocols, can be assigned different                                          two digit numbers, such as 01 for ftp)                                www.nsc.com. → 139.187.253.17 (a 32 bit internet                                         IP address)                                                 patents/index.html →                                                                      an encoded number or a                                                        number that can be used                                                       for a look-up table                                                           stored in the host                                                            computer.                                                  ______________________________________                                    

In accordance with one approach, the user's telephone/terminal device110 is provided with the capability of translating the compressed URL inits entirety. Thus, what would be transmitted by device 110 to the hostcomputer is a normal URL. One advantage of such an approach is that theuser can display the URL so that the information it contains can bereadily discerned. Another advantage is that no modifications arerequired to any information stored on the network, other than theresource of interest which, of course, must be stored on storage medium175 of host computer 170.

Another approach is to utilize the device 110 to interpret thecompressed protocol and hostname information, but not the path on thehost computer to the resource stored therein. The compressed path isreceived by the host computer 170 which must be provided with a suitabledecompression algorithm or a look-up table. The look-up table would befor translating from an encoded (compressed) network resource locatorinto a full specification (e.g., network resource address such as a fullInternet URL) for an associated network resource. Additional detailsabout encoding techniques are provided below under the heading "EncodingNetwork Resource Locators".

If, during a subsequent telephone conversation between the serviceprovider and a user, the user expresses an interest in accessing theinformation stored by the service provider, the service provider usesthe transmission capability of the service provider telephone 140 (e.g.,quick-dial or other transmission scheme) to transmit the encoded networkresource locator to the user. The user's telephone/terminal device 110receives and stores the encoded network resource locator onto itsassociated storage medium 120. At any time thereafter, the user canconnect to the network computer 160, get on the network and transmit thenetwork resource locator to host computer 170 in the form of aninformation request. The host computer 170 uses a received normalnetwork resource locator or translates the encoded network resourcelocator into a full network resource locator, depending on which of theabove-described approaches is used, and retrieves the associatedinformation. The host computer 170 then transmits the retrievedinformation back to the user's telephone/terminal device 110, where itis displayed.

Those of ordinary skill in the art will immediately recognize thatnetwork topologies other than the one shown in FIG. 1 may be employed toperform the same function. It is intended that FIG. 1 be considered asbeing merely representative of any suitable network topology. It isfully within the intended spirit and scope of the present invention toapply the present inventive techniques to the broadest possible set ofcomputer networks. Therefore, the connection between the user'stelephone/terminal device 110 and the host computer 170 shown in FIG. 1may be considered to be essentially equivalent to a data communicationsconnection between the user telephone/terminal device 110 and anyaccessible node of a computer network.

Encoding Network Resource Locators

A wide variety of techniques can be employed to encode a networkresource locator into a short, encoded form. One such techniquepartially "tokenizes" frequently-used character sequences, such as"http://", "ftp://", ".edu", ".com", etc., into a compact form (e.g., anumeric token), and replaces the plain text character sequences of theresource locator with the token. Additionally, the host computer for thesite specified in the network resource locator can be referred to by anumerical address. For example, on the Internet, any site computer has a32-bit IP (Internet Protocol) address. This IP address can be specifiedas decimal text, hexadecimal text, or as a 32-bit binary number, andencoded into the resource locator instead of a textual form of the IPaddress which usually occurs in URL's. It is within the capabilities ofInternet's access protocols to address and connect to sites in thismanner. Those of ordinary skill in the art will immediately appreciatethat this technique has applicability to a more general set ofinter-networks, beyond Internet. It is within the spirit and scope ofthe present invention to apply the inventive techniques to any suitablenetwork and addressing scheme.

Another technique for encoding an Internet URL or other network resourcelocator into a compact, encoded form is to fully-tokenize (digitallycompress) the network resource locator by any suitable technique (e.g.,Huffman coding, tokenization of frequently used character sequences,etc.).

Yet another technique for encoding an Internet URL or other networkresource locator into a compact, encoded form is to represent the hostcomputer's network node address in numerical form (as specified above),and to append to it a numeric (or otherwise encoded) resource specifierin a form mutually acceptable to the owner of the host computer 170 andthe service provider. The user's terminal/telephone device 110 uses thenetwork node address portion of the encoded network resource locator toconnect to the host computer 170. The host computer 170 locates thedesired information by translating the encoded resource specifierportion into a full network resource locator using its local translationtable.

Service Provider

FIG. 2 is a flow diagram 200 showing steps to be performed at a serviceprovider site in encoding and using network resource locators, asdiscussed hereinabove.

In step 206, a compressed form (e.g, tokenized, numeric) of a networkresource locator is obtained. The compressed URL is generated in amanner described below as step 404 of FIG. 4. With step 406, thecompressed URL is outputted by the host computer and step 206 is thereceipt of that signal by the service provider. In a next step 208, thecompressed network resource locator is stored in the local storagemedium (150) associated with the service provider's telephone. The steps206 and 208 are preliminary to the service provider conductingcommunication sessions with users.

Next, in a step 210, the service provider conducts a normal telephoneconversation with a user. If, during the course of the conversation, itis determined (step 212) from the user that access to an informationobject is desired, in a next step 214 the service provider determinesverbally whether the user has a compatible telephone/terminal device(see, e.g., 110) at his location. If so, in a next step 216 the serviceprovider transmits the compressed network resource locator to the userelectronically. This can be accomplished using DTMF(dual-tone-multi-frequency) telephone dialing tones, in which case theservice provider requires no special equipment other than a telephonewith quick-dial (number storage) capability. Of course, as explainedabove, other techniques to effect transmission of the resource locatorcan also be used. If the user does not have a compatibletelephone/terminal device, then in step 218 the service providerdictates the full network resource locator for the information object(e.g., an Internet URL) to the user. Finally, in a step 220, the serviceprovider hangs up, ending the conversation. Although not shown, the usermight also initiate a data communication session before the serviceprovider hangs up so that the object can be retrieved and displayedwhile the telephone conversation with the service provider continues.

User

FIG. 3 is a flow diagram 300 showing steps to be performed at a usersite in using network resource locators, according to the invention. Ina first step, 302, the user converses with a service provider. In a nextstep 304, if the user determines that he would like to accessinformation from the service provider, he requests access (step 306)from the service provider. Next (step 308), the user waits until histelephone/terminal device (110) detects and receives a compressedresource locator from the service provider. Then (step 310) thecompressed resource locator is verified by, for instance, usingredundant checksum digits, and then stored. The verification done bystep 310 can be considered optional.

If the user desires immediate access to the information (step 312), thetelephone conversation is ended (step 314) and the process proceeds to astep 324, described hereinbelow. Although not shown, immediate access isalso possible without ending the conversation, as explained above. Ifthe user does not require immediate access to the information, theconversation continues, and the user decides (step 316) whether or notto store the compressed resource locator (step 318) for later use inaccessing the information. (The step 316 is optional, it generally beingfair to assume that by requesting access (step 306) the user wishes tostore the compressed URL.) The user then continues the conversation(step 320) until he is done. Next (step 322), if the user does not wishto access the information at that time, the process ends. Otherwise, theprocess continues (step 324) by dialing a network server computer to geton the network and establish a data communication session with the hostcomputer (step 326). The user requests the information from the hostcomputer (step 328) by causing his telephone/terminal device to transmitthe resource locator. The host computer retrieves and transmits theinformation object to the user's telephone/terminal device whichreceives and displays it (step 330).

Step 324 can accommodate both of the above-described approaches, namelyby translating the compressed URL and transmitting a normal URL, ortransmitting a compressed URL which then must be translated by the hostcomputer 170.

Network Server

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram 400 showing steps to be performed at the hostcomputer in encoding and using network resource locators. In a firststep 401, carried out before being contacted by a user, the serviceprovider generates an information object, such as a hypertext page, tobe stored on a computer network. The service provider's informationobject (e.g., hypertext page) is stored and cataloged (step 402) on thehost computer. In a next step 404, access to the information object isprovided for by creating a translation between a compressed resourcelocator and the network resource location of the information object. Ofcourse, step 404 is required only with the above-described approach inwhich the user's telephone/terminal device 110 does not fully translatethe compressed URL and, thus, sends to the host computer what is not anormal URL. The translation being provided for in the host computer iseither a look-up table or a decoding algorithm.

In a next step 406, the compressed resource locator is provided to theservice provider for transmission to users, so that users may thenaccess the information object using the compressed resource locator. Thehost computer then waits until a user requests access to the informationobject (step 408). When access is requested, the host computerdetermines whether or not the compressed resource locator is being used(step 410) to access the object. If the compressed resource locator isused, it is translated (step 412) into a full (decoded) network resourcelocator for the information object. If the compressed form is not used,then the full network resource locator made available by step 408(specified by user to Access the information object) is used. Finally,(step 414) the full network resource locator is used by the hostcomputer to retrieve and transmit the information object to the user'stelephone/terminal device.

Order of Actions

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram, generally arranged in three "columns", showingthe order of actions to be performed at a service provider site (steps502, 506, 510, 514, 520; compare FIG. 2), at a user site (steps 508,512, 516, 518, 522, 528; compare FIG. 3), and at a network server site(steps 504, 524, 526; compare FIG. 4) in encoding and using networkresource locators, according to the invention. The relationship of stepsdepicted in FIG. 5 to corresponding steps depicted in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4will be self-evident.

In a first step 502, an information object (e.g., hypertext object) iscreated by a service provider. In a next step 504, the informationobject is placed on a host computer and a short-form (compressed)resource locator is generated. In a next step 506, the service providerprograms his local telephone equipment (or transmission device) with theshort-form resource locator. The system (i.e., service provider/network)is now ready to accept user requests.

A user contacts the service provider (step 508), using histelephone/terminal device. The service provider (e.g., a help deskattendant) offers access to the information object (step 510). The useraccepts the offer (step 512) and indicates that he has equipment capableof electronically receiving a transmission by the service provider ofthe resource locator. The service provider transmits the compressedresource locator to the user's telephone/terminal device (step 514). Theuser's telephone/terminal device receives and stores the compressedresource locator from the service provider (step 516).

The user may then terminate the call to the service provider (step 518).The service provider also terminates the call (step 520). The user maythen connect to the host computer (step 522) e.g., by an Internetconnection, requesting access to the information object using thecompressed resource locator received from the service provider. The hostcomputer receives and accepts the request (step 524) and uses itsresident translation table (lookup table) to translate the compressedresource locator into a full network resource locator (e.g., InternetURL) and retrieves the information object. Of course, no lookupfunctionality is required if a normal URL is received, as explainedabove. The host computer transmits the information object to the user(step 526). The user's telephone/terminal device receives, processes anddisplays the information object (step 528).

The following patents, incorporated by reference herein, are cited asbeing representative of related prior art:

U.S. Pat. No. 5.388.154 describes an alphabetic telephone apparatus forencoding alphabetic characters as a sequence of DTMF or pulse dialingsignals. A separate alphabetic keyboard is used for alphabetic characterentry.

U.S. Pat. No. 5,339.358 described a technique for using a standard pushbutton keypad to encode alphabetic or alphanumeric sequences into DTMFtones.

U.S. Pat. No. 5.392,338 describes a technique for typing alphabetic oralphanumeric character sequences using a conventional touch tone (DTMF)telephone.

All of these patents are directed to techniques for transmittingalphanumeric information using DTMF tones. By way of contrast, thepresent invention does not attempt to transmit any form of alphanumericinformation. The present inventive technique determines a suitableencoding of a compressed resource locator. If the resource locator is tobe transmitted by DTMF encoding, which has a native numeric signallingscheme, the resource locator is encoded entirely as a sequence ofnumerals, and is interpreted at both the transmitting and receiving endsas such.

The above and other objects, features, advantages and embodiments of theinvention, including other (i.e., additional) embodiments of thetechniques discussed above may become apparent to one having ordinaryskill in the art to which this invention most nearly pertains, and suchother and additional embodiments are intended to fall within the spiritand scope of the present invention, as defined by the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method of accessing an information resource ona computer network, comprising:storing an information resource on a hostcomputer at a node of a computer network and providing a resourcespecifier string representing a full network resource locator for theinformation resource; providing a set of uniquely identifiable tokensfor representing specific character sequences, each token representing aspecific character sequence; creating a compressed resource locator byreplacing character sequences in the resource specifier string withcorresponding tokens representing those character sequences; providingthe compressed resource locator to a storage medium of a transmissionunit of a telephone device at a service provider site for subsequenttransmission; transmitting the compressed resource locator from thetelephone device to a user's telephone/terminal device at a user site;establishing a data communication session over the computer networkbetween the user telephone/terminal device and the host computer; inresponse to the compressed resource locator, requesting the informationresource from the host computer by transmitting a signal related to thecompressed resource locator from the user's telephone/terminal device tothe host computer; and at the host computer, using said signal toretrieve the information resource and to transmit it over the computernetwork to the user's telephone/terminal device.
 2. A method accordingto claim 1, wherein: one or more tokens are provided for representing aprotocol-name portion of the resource specifier string.
 3. A methodaccording to claim 1, wherein:one or more tokens are provided forrepresenting commonly-occurring sequences of characters of the resourcespecifier string.
 4. A method according to claim 1, furthercomprising:encoding a network site identification into the compressedresource locator as a numerical host ID.
 5. A method according to claim1, further comprising:encoding a resource identifier into the compressedresource locator as a numerical resource ID.
 6. A method according toclaim 1, further comprising the step of decoding the compressed resourcelocator at the user's telephone/terminal device so that said signal isthe full network resource locator.
 7. A system for accessing a networkdata resource, comprising:Means for providing a compressed resourcelocator representing a full network resource address of an informationobject stored on a host computer at a node of a computer network; atelephone device at a service provider site having a storage medium forstoring the compressed resource locator, and a signalling unit fortransmitting the compressed resource locator; and a telephone/terminaldevice at a user location for establishing voice communication with theservice provider telephone device, for receiving and storing thecompressed resource locator transmitted by the service providertelephone device, and for establishing communication with the hostcomputer over the computer network based on the compressed resourcelocator wherein the user's telephone/terminal device includes a decoderfor decoding at least a portion of the compressed resource locator; andwherein the host computer includes a translator for decoding a portionof the compressed resource locator not decoded by the decoder in theuser's telephone/terminal device.
 8. A system according to claim 7,wherein: the compressed resource locator is stored as a sequence ofnumeric digits.
 9. A system according to claim 7, wherein:the compressedresource locator is encoded in a partially-tokenized format.
 10. Asystem according to claim 7, wherein:the compressed resource locator isencoded in a fully-tokenized format.
 11. A system according to claim 7,wherein:the compressed resource locator is encoded in a format whichincludes a numerical network site identifier.
 12. A system according toclaim 7, wherein:the compressed resource locator is encoded in a formatwhich includes a numerical resource identifier.
 13. A method ofaccessing an information resource on a computer network,comprising:storing an information resource on a host computer at a nodeof a computer network and providing a resource specifier stringrepresenting a network resource locator for the information resource;providing the resource locator to a storage medium of a transmissionunit of a telephone device at a service provider site for subsequenttransmission; transmitting the resource locator from the telephonedevice to a user's telephone/terminal device at a user's site;establishing a data communication session over the computer networkbetween the user's telephone/terminal device and the host computer;requesting the information resource from the host computer bytransmitting the resource locator from the user's telephone/terminaldevice to the host computer; and at the host computer, using saidresource locator to retrieve the information resource and to transmit itto the user's telephone/terminal device wherein said method furthercomprising any of the following:wherein said step of transmitting theresource locator is preceded by initiation of a telephone conversationbetween the user and the service provider during which the userexpresses an interest in receiving said information resource; whereinsaid step of transmitting the resource locator occurs after thetelephone conversation is concluded; wherein said steps of establishinga data communications session, requesting the information resource andretrieving the information resource occur during the telephoneconversation; wherein said steps of establishing a data communicationssession, requesting the information resource and retrieving theinformation resource occur after the telephone conversation isconcluded; and wherein said steps of establishing a data communicationssession requesting the information resource and retrieving theinformation resource occur after the telephone conversation idconcluded.
 14. A system for accessing a network data resource,comprising:means for providing a compressed resource locatorrepresenting a network resource address of an information object storedon a host computer at a node of a computer network; a telephone deviceat a service provider site having a storage medium for storing thecompressed resource locator and a signalling unit for transmitting theresource locator; a telephone/ terminal device at a user location forestablishing voice communication with the service provider telephonedevice, for receiving and storing the compressed resource locatortransmitted by the service provider telephone device, and forestablishing communication with the host computer over the computernetwork based on the resource locator; and a decoder for decoding thecompressed resource locator at said telephone/terminal device so thatsaid network resource address is presented at said user location.